Mashable Pakistan Lab

Saad Idrees, is the Co-founder and CEO of daftarkhawan.

As per their tagline daftarkhwan is more than just an office – it’s a meeting point for entrepreneurs, a resource palette for startups, and an open call for collective action. They aim to deliver an agile workplace that can adapt to the evolving needs of the modern day.

In this episode we talk to Saad about the culture of using co-working spaces in Pakistan, the importance of community building and much more.

Documentary Association of Pakistan (DAP) is an initiative promoting and popularizing the art of documentary films in the country by organizing film screening in public spaces nationwide.

In this podcast session we talk to two co-founders of DAP about documentary making in Pakistan, the power of this medium and their ongoing virtual event, Chalta Phirta Documentary Festival.

Risham Waseem is a digital content creator and documentary film maker based in Lahore, Pakistan. She is the creative director of Maati TV, Pakistan’s first web based interactive video platform aimed at putting forward an alternative narrative of Pakistan in support of human rights, democracy and cultural diversity through various digital story telling techniques.  She is also the festival director of Vasakh Documentary Film Festival, an international documentary film festival aimed at creating awareness on Human rights issues and initiating a critical discourse among Pakistani youth. More recently she has also worked as a digital communication strategist for the office of United National Human Rights Commission, where she designed digital strategies and products for the Special Rapporteur on from of peaceful assembly and association.

She has received her BA honors in Film and Television from National College of Arts and since then has been part of several documentary productions with a particular focus on human rights. She has also been a Hurford Youth Fellow with the World Movement for Democracy where she designed a web series tackling the hurdles young people face towards being more politically engaged. Risham also has an extensive background in Interactive/Forum theatre and has been part of a theatre group that has performed on issues of gender based violence, interfaith harmony and democracy, all over Pakistan.

Haya Fatima Iqbal is an Academy and two-time Emmy winning documentary filmmaker from Pakistan.

Haya has covered a range of subjects through her documentary work ranging from gender, militancy, and conflict to climate change, water scarcity and social justice. Her work has been featured on HBO Documentary, BBC, Al Jazeera, Channel 4 UK, VICE, National Geographic Society, Redfish, CNN and the Thomson Reuters Foundation among other media organizations.

Haya is an Acumen fellow and a Fulbright scholar. She teaches communication, media, and journalism to undergraduate students at Habib University, Karachi. She also trains people in storytelling and filmmaking in Pakistan and abroad. She holds a Masters in News & Documentary from New York University.

Sadaffe Abid is the founder of CIRCLE Women Association, a leading social enterprise that aims to build and develop the entrepreneurial and leadership capacity of women in Pakistan.

She was an integral part of the Kashf Foundation, from when it was a pilot project to the well-established microfinance organization that it has become today. Sadaffe is also known for bringing She Loves Tech to Pakistan.

In this podcast session we talk to her about the state of social enterprise in the country, the need to empower women through tech and the future of the industry.

Journalists, Mehr Fatima Husain and Saad Sarfraz Sheikh have recently published Pakistan: A Fashionable History. The first of its kind coffee table book that documents the country’s fashion.

Fashion is an integral part of any society and its history, however, despite out rich and diverse heritage there has been no formal documentation about the various phases of Pakistan’s fashion and its impact on society and vice versa.

In this podcast episode of Mashable Pakistan Lab, we talk to the authors about how they got the idea of Pakistan: A Fashionable History, how they turned this idea into an actual book and all things Pakistani fashion.

In the first episode of Mashable Pakistan Lab we are in conversation with Arafat Mazhar, an academic, animator, film maker and musician.    

He is the founder and director of  Engage, ShehriPakistan, Hashiya and Puffball Studio.   

Arafat Mazhar is the brains behind the short animation film Shehr-e-Tabasuum and the upcoming film Swipe that is coming out on 31 October.  

We talked about how he got involved in these multiple fields, the importance and role storytelling can play in any society, his passion for music and what keeps him optimistic about the future.

A podcast where we will be discussing all things infotainment.

Taking a deep dive with individuals, teams and organizations about their journey from an idea to its final execution.

You can find the weekly sessions on Mashable Pakistan’s website, Youtube channel or any of your favourite podcast streaming platform.